“Petroleum ministry has conveyed to oil marketing companies to raise kerosene price by 25 paise every month till April 2017,” a senior official said. Officials said PDS kerosene price of Rs14.96 a litre was at Rs13.12 discount to the fuel’s actual cost of production. The first increase has been notified by the oil companies but the rates have so far no reflected in the price of kerosene sold through public distribution system (PDS). Subsidy on kerosene was expected to be in the range of Rs9,000-12,500 crore in 2016-17, assuming crude oil price of $40-50 per barrel. This approached helped the present BJP-led government to deregulate diesel price in October 2014.

Source: Mint July 13, 2016 11:25 UTC